Tigo Tanzania launches innovative nano (Tigo Nivushe) lending scheme to its customers

Tigo Nivushe poised to foster financial inclusion
Leading digital lifestyle company, Tigo (www.Tigo.co.tz), announced today that it will launch an easy to access nano lending product to its stable of mobile financial services. This new product will not require collateral and offers immediate access to small loans to Tigo Pesa users.

Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services, Ruan Sawnepoel, said in a statement to the press today that for the first time the nano loans product, called Tigo Nivushe will allow Tigo Pesa customers to build their own credit history and being open to any Tigo Pesa customer turns the typical lending models upside down.  No security is required or taken and the loan product has been designed to be transparent and foster responsible lending.

Explaining the product’s flexibility, Swanepoel said Tigo Nivushe offers different lending periods with variable administrative costs based on the length of tenure. The loans – with an average of Tsh 10,000 (US$ 5) – are processed in real-time and funds transferred within minutes. As customers build up their credit history they are able to borrow higher amounts with lower administration fees.  Loans are delivered directly to the mobile wallet so customers can immediately use the funds to pay bills, transfer to others, or cash out at the thousands of agents across the country, he noted.

“Tigo Nivushe has been designed to encourage responsible lending. Previous mobile behaviour is used to determine suitable limits for loans and customers will only be able to have one loan at a time.  Protection against life shocks is included as everyone will be automatically insured for the loan amount against death or permanent disability. Most importantly, as the product is fee based no interest can be accumulated in the event of default and acquiring a loan will not affect mobile or Tigo Pesa accounts in any way, “ Swanepoel said.

The head of Mobile Financial Services further said: “We are thrilled today to be launching Tigo Nivushe. It is an essential product for driving financial inclusion, which is critical to Tanzania’s continued economic growth and success. These quite small loans can make all the difference and are crucial for building credit history and obtaining credit in the future.”

Disruptive E-money services, delivered through mobile phones have already changed the lives of millions of people. With this new responsible lending product, Tigo wants to change the way people think about lending, according to Ruan.

Source:Tigo

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Tanzania's Mobile Money Revolution-Infographic

Kenya is often lauded as a global pioneer when it comes to mobile money, but Tanzania is also making its mark. With growing competition and mobile money providers starting to make their systems interoperable, Tanzania is setting an example for others.

Source:http://www.cgap.org/

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Latest mobile brand to launch in Dar es salaam,Tanzania

A NEW mobile phone brand namely Obi Mobiles, co-founded by veteran marketer and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apple John Sculley, will be launched next month in Tanzania.

According to a statement by Managing Director of Obi Mobiles in Middle East and Africa, Mr Amit Rupchandani, the new Android smart phones offer best in class technology and features at very competitive prices.

“This will ensure Tanzanian consumers are in a better position to experience internet access through seven categories of mobile phones, set to formally launch in March this year stated.

Consumers are increasingly looking to upgrade from feature phones to smart phones. “The brand marked its global launch in India and the Middle East in 2014.

It targets the population of young and trendy smart phone users, Obi devices were well received in both markets and the brand hopes to continue its momentum in Tanzania,” Mr Rupchandani stated.

The OBI regional director noted however that the high cost of investment on new-age devices is a huge deterrent for a large number of inspiring buyers.

“At Obi Mobiles, we believe by ticking off the right boxes, in terms of superior design and quality, desirable price points, and the support of strong channels that reach every segment of the market, we can add immense value to the African Smartphone market,” he boasted.

The new technology brand co-founded by veteran marketer and former Apple CEO John Sculley is a new venture by Sculley’s Toronto-based company, Inflexion Point.

The seven new devices to be unveiled in the Tanzanian market includes the Hornbill S551, the Falcon S451, the Crane S550, the Wolverine S501 and the Fox S453.

Also on the list are the Racoon S401 and the Power GO F240 – a feature phone, equipped with a high capacity 2,800mAH battery, and a convenient power bank option to recharge other mobile devices.

Headquartered in Singapore, Obi Mobiles is a new and exciting venture promoted by Toronto-based Inflexion Point, an international Investment and Acquisition Company focusing on IT supply chains.

Source: Dailynews

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Tanzania's voice, data rates still low

Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and India charge more.

Tanzania enjoys one of the lowest voice rates per minute on the continent. The rate is comparatively low in contrast to Kenya at Tshs 80/-, Ghana Tshs 80.4/- and Nigeria Tsh 96/- per minute. Prior to the recent price increase, the blended average price of Tsh 23/- per minute was one of the the lowest in the world.  

Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director Rene Meza said his company has continually maintained low prices because it believes that access to communication services is a right that should be enjoyed by all and not a luxury.

Meza further said that 2014 was a great year for his company on many fronts and he would like to thank Vodacom customers for their continued loyalty and support…Customers made 45% more calls at significantly reduced rates. In addition to this, over 1.7 million Tanzanians chose Vodacom as their preferred communication services provider in 2014.

“Close to 50% of our customers use data today. This has in turn tripled internet usage on our network. We have more than 5.5 million customers who access the internet through their phones. The number of smart phone users on our network has grown by over 200% over the last year.  We now have over one million smartphones that are active on our network. We are therefore, a very active contributor to our country’s endeavor to create a knowledge based society.”

 

We need to invest in the enhancement of our network so as to continue to cater for the current and expected growth. We have several challenges that we face today…we are both a capital intensive industry and are very heavily taxed at 38.1%. This to an extent affects our ability to generate funds for reinvestment in the business. We were offering some of our products at below cost and are now realigning them so as to recoup some of our costs...,” he said.

 

“Vodacom offers a variety of very competitive products in the market. We have an array of very competitive packages that allow our customers to make calls, send SMS and browse the internet from as low as Tshs 500/- .  For Internet, Vodacom offers many options in daily, weekly, and monthly categories, to suit all customers’ needs. After the changes, Vodacom now charges Tshs 4.9/- per MB in a 5GB bundle, as compared to our  former price of  Tshs 3.9/- Per /MB for the same..  This is  still one of the lowest prices  per MB for the same product (5GB) within other key emerging markets - Nigeria charging Tshs 17/-, South Africa is Tshs 13/-, Kenya Tshs  12/-,  Ghana 7/- and India is at  T-shs 5/-, says Meza.

 

With regards to how his company was performing in other areas, Meza said M-Pesa users now stand over at 6 million and transact approximately Tshs 1.7 Trillion/- every month. “Our M-Pesa Wakala network has a national reach and is over 85,000 agent-strong. The phenomenal growth that we had in 2014 is reflected in our contribution to government revenue. We are now the 2nd largest payer in the country and the top in the telecoms sector,” he says.

 

“We invested Tshs 180 bn/- in our network in 2014 and this had a tremendous impact on our network as evidenced by the phenomenal growth that I mentioned earlier. Our 2015 planned  investment  of Tshs140 billion /- will therefore, cover 2G and 3G network expansion, Products and Services, IT Infrastructure as well as the enhancement of our M-Pesa service.  This is crucial to the financial inclusion agenda because we are committed to playing a part in enabling Tanzania achieve its targeted middle income by 2025,” said Meza.

 

On future growth, Meza said investment in the mobile communication services sector is capital intensive and continues to be hampered by, among other things, the existing energy infrastructure which requires telecom companies to connect most of their sites to generators running on fuel. Rural coverage despite the challenges that come with it, remains a priority for Vodacom Tanzania. “We believe this is where growth in the telecommunications industry will come from in the next decade. We have to date contributed in excess of the Tshs 4.5477bn/- to the Universal Communication Services Access Fund (UCSAF), “he says.

 

 In addition to UCSAF sites we have over 1300 sites in rural areas. All the regions and most districts in Tanzania now have 3 G coverage. “As smart phone user’s increase, so too will our 3 G footprint continue to expand across the country. Nevertheless, we continue to see a lot more whatsApp users in rural areas – a clear indication of the increasing uptake of technology in rural areas.”

Source:vodacom Tanzania

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Clients to settle hotel bills by Tigopesa

JOVAGO, an online hotel booking platform has announced its new partnership with Tigo where Tigopesa customers will now be able to pay for their accommodation booked on the platform with their Tigopesa account.

According to a statement made available to the Daily News, this comes at a time when integration of m-payments on online booking websites is seen as a crucial aspect in bolstering in the e-tourism industry.

“Africa is definitely moving on to the digital world, as part of this move we want to take in consideration the local market demands and habits, thus structure our strategies in response to the needs,” said the Jovago Managing Director, Ms Estelle Verdier.

This is the 2nd integration of a mobile payment service provider on the booking platform and the partnership allows guests more online convenience and speed in the booking process.

Ms Verdier said the partnership gives the customer yet another option for efficiency on top of the available card payments and pay-onarrival model.

Source:Dailynews

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Africa’s mobile users to hit half a billion

There will be over half a billion mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa in the next six years, according to this year’s GSMA Intelligence report.

The region remains the fastest growing in mobile telephony subscription, a trend attributed to its robust economic growth and the increasing affordability of mobile phone services.

By mid this year, there were 329 million unique subscribers representing a penetration rate of 38 per cent. Further, there were over 600 million SIM connections equivalent to a penetration rate of 68 per cent in the region as consumers and businesses increasingly use mobile use beyond communication.

This number is set to rise at a compound annual growth rate of seven per cent to reach just over half a billion in 2020.

Mobile phone firms have also deployed more 3G connections that accounted for only 15 per cent of the total base in 2013 and are expected to rise to over half by 2020, making the region among the largest in terms of 3G connections only behind the highly populated Asia-Pacific region.

The rise in 3G connections largely reflects the accelerating rate of smartphone use. Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to witness the highest growth of any region in terms of the number of smartphone connections (between 72 and 525 million) over the next six years. This means over half of the total connection then will be on smartphones.

The growing adoption of smartphones along with other data-capable devices such as tablets is in turn driving an explosion in data traffic.

The region’s mobile data traffic is forecast to record a 20-fold increase from 2013 to 2019, about twice the global growth rate.

This upswing is expected to push up revenue for the mobile companies across the region. The firms have already seen strong jump in revenues in the last few years, driven in particular by an increase in the number of connections and subscriber base.

Revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate of 7 per cent yearly between 2008 and 2013. The growth rates are however set to slow slightly going forward, but increasing data traffic will see revenue growth remain at a healthy 5.6 per cent up to 2020.

This calls for more investments in the network capacity to cope with the expected growth in data traffic, as well as increase in 3G coverage.

In 2013, the mobile industry contributed 5.4 per cent to overall gross domestic product in the region, and this is forecast to increase to 6.2 per cent by 2020.

The mobile industry is also a significant source of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa directly employing nearly 2.4 million people. This is also expected to increase to around 3.5 million by 2020.

The industry also makes a very large contribution to the funding of the public sector in the form of general taxation ($13 billion in 2013), and through further payments in the form of licence as well as regulatory fees and spectrum auctions.

Despite the progress to date, there remains a significant proportion of the population in the region who do not have access to the internet.

At the end of 2013, there were almost 150 million individuals using mobile devices to access the internet in sub-Saharan Africa. This is equivalent to an overall mobile internet penetration rate of only 17 per cent of the total population, compared to a global average of just over 30 per cent.

This figure will more than double by 2020, reaching 38 per cent, with an additional 240 million people across the region gaining mobile internet access by that date.

There are a number of barriers to extending mobile internet access in sub-Saharan Africa, with affordability and network coverage in rural areas being key challenges given high levels of poverty.

More than 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas.

Telcoms, governments, regulators and other entities all have a role to play in addressing these barriers. Allowing commercially-agreed network sharing and ensuring timely release of digital dividend spectrum will be key in enabling growth of network coverage.

Source:Dailynation

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Tigo Pesa users in Tanzania receive $1.8m profit

Telecoms company Tigo today announced its Tigo Pesa mobile money customers would receive the first of its regular quarterly payments worth US$1.8 million.

Three months ago Tigo paid a profit of US$ 8.64 million accumulated in the Tigo Pesa Trust Account and became the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users.

Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez said “This second round of profit disbursement shows the company’s continued commitment to benefit and improve the lives of Tanzanians. The payment goes to all Tigo Pesa users including super agents, retail agents and individual users of the service.

“The first payment was bigger due to the fact that the profit had been accumulated over a period of three and a half years. This second payment is the profit accumulated from funds held in trust in commercial banks for three months in the quarter July to September 2014.”

Tigo Pesa has a subscriber base of 3.6 million customers and the average return to a customer will vary based on their average daily balance in their Tigo Pesa e-wallet. This applies to super-agents, retail agents and individual customers.

It also announced next installment for the quarter of October to December 2014 will be paid out in February 2015.

Source:humanipo

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Ghana to abolish taxes on imported smartphones by 2015

The Ghanaian government has announced it would abolish taxes on all imported smartphones by next. This development was announced by the government through the 2015 budget.

The government said it realised that although Ghana has high mobile phone penetration, smartphones only represent 15%.

“Communication is shifting from voice to data and mobile data is projected to grow 6.3 times between 2013 and 2018. It is being proposed that in order to increase smartphone penetration, and in line with Government’s policy of bridging the digital divide within the country, import duties on smartphones will be removed. It is expected that the increase in smartphone penetration will increase revenue from Communication Service Tax, VAT and corporate taxes,” the government stated in the budget.

Sonia Jorge, Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4Ai) while commending the government of Ghana for the decision said removing import taxes is a key first step towards getting every Ghanaian online. The issue of mobile phone tax was among the topics discussed at A4AI’s first in-country engagement held in Ghana.

“Taxes make up more than a third of the cost of a smartphone in Ghana, and as a result only about 15% of the population currently have one. It’s worth noting that when Kenya scrapped VAT on handsets in 2009, devices in circulation quadrupled and overall mobile penetration rose from 50% to more than 70%. We hope to see similar results in Ghana,” Jorge said.

In an exclusive interview with HumanIPO, she said the aim of A4AI is to bring outdated policy and regulatory frameworks into the digital age by working directly with national governments and a wide range of key stakeholders.

Following the introduction of the tax, HumanIPO reported the Concerned Mobile Phone and Accessories Dealers group had closed their shops in protest against the tax which has previously been welcomed by native manufacturers such as Rlg Communications. Ghana’s Association of Independent Mobile Phone and Credit Dealers (ASIMODE) also warned the introduction of the 20% tax on imported devices would have a direct repercussion on the businesses of its members.

source:humanipo

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South African brothers launch Ebola Care app

Two South African brothers have launched the Ebola Care app to aid the fight against Ebola. The app has already been deployed in Liberia by More Than Me, a not-for-profit organisation.

The developers Malan Joubert (28) and Philip Joubert (26) from Journey Apps, a South African tech startup developed the app that allows for efficient Ebola response.

“The Ebola outbreak is the kind of thing you assume ‘other’ people are worrying about… until you realise that perhaps you are ‘other’ people, and it’s time to start doing something,“ said Phillip.

“In order to be effective during any crisis, accessing real-time data is paramount as time is of the essence,” Sam said.

Sam Herring, More Than Me’s data manager said, “the Ebola Care App allows us to respond in an efficient manner. Efficiency stops the spread, and stopping the spread saves lives.”

The app uses GPS cordinates to track individuals infected with the virus including their families; it also assists ambulance teams transporting patients to capture vital information.

“Many of the most affected areas do not use street names and run on paper medical records, making the app’s capacity to identify affected ‘cluster’ areas and digitally monitor health workers movements a pioneering step in the fight against Ebola. The app further helps NGO’s in the care of children abandoned or orphaned due to the outbreak, and monitors children under the 21-day quarantine period. “I hope every NGO responding to the Ebola crisis can get access to this app,” Sam said

Source:humanipo

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Samsung boosts fight against Ebola with smartphones worth $1m

Technology company has announced its support of ongoing global efforts towards eradicating Ebola virus disease in some African countries. In a statement, Samsung announced a donation of about 3,000 GALAXY S3 Neo smartphones valued at about USD1 million.

Samsung said the devices will be donated through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), and will be used in the Humanitarian Connectivity Project, the UN’s IT project that utilizes mobile devices to provide humanitarian support in disaster areas.

“The donated GALAXY S3 Neo smartphones will be used in 60 Ebola medical clinics in the three worst-hit African countries, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. By installing the UN’s Smart Health Pro mobile application, medical staff can utilize the smartphones to treat patients and collect medical data, while quarantined patients can contact their families using the devices,” Samsung said. “All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided.”

The company also announced the launch of an Ebola SMS text service in South Africa among other efforts in the fight against Ebola.

source:humanipo

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GSMA forms inter-industry mHealth partnership across Sub-Saharan Africa

A total of eight organisations have partnered with the GSMA through its Mobile for Development mHealth programme to launch a new cross-ecosystem partnership designed to provide a range of mobile services to women and children focusing on nutrition across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The programme, which is targeting an addressable market of 15.5 million pregnant women and mothers with children under five years of age, has attracted partners such as Gemalto, Hello Doctor, Lifesaver, Mobenzi, Mobilium, MTN, Omega Diagnostics and Samsung.

“This new mobile ecosystem partnership, developed by the GSMA, is committed to connecting the mobile and health industries to develop commercially sustainable mHealth services that meet public health needs,” said Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer, GSMA.

“The companies in this partnership are working to deliver the objectives of the United Nations Every Women Every Child Global Strategy, as well as the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, in the areas of nutrition and maternal and child health. We call on mobile ecosystem players, health providers, governments, NGOs, civil society and others to work with us to launch life-saving mobile health services.”

The service will be jointly launched in seven countries – Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia – from September 2014. Phase two, which commences in 2015, will incorporate additional partners and services and will also address Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

The partnership will collectively reduce barriers to handset ownership and connectivity for consumers and health workers, by offering discounted Samsung handsets and tablets to consumers and health workers across Africa, providing access to the Samsung ecosystem, and a pre-embedded Smart Health application that provides a range of professional applications, information and services on 80 million Samsung handsets.

source:humanipo

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Microsoft-backed VetAfrica app helps EA farmers in disease diagnosis

Microsoft has partnered Glasgow-based tech company Cojengo to develop software seeking to provide East African farmers with innovative diagnostic tools and disease surveillance data.

The VetAfrica app aims to help farmers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania by enabling vets, animal health workers and rural farmers to quickly and accurately diagnose livestock illness and identify which drugs are most effective to treat disease.

Speaking during the launch of the app, deputy first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said the solution will help tens of millions of farmers across Africa to solve animal health issues.

“Scotland has a global reputation as an innovative nation and Cojengo has expanded its horizons internationally to help transform the lives of rural farmers on the African continent,” she said.

“Working with Microsoft, the company has embraced and tapped into the mobile revolution sweeping Africa. Cojengo is a shining example of a new generation of creative Scottish companies with the ambition and skills to create and grow successful businesses.”

Craig Taylor, managing director of Cojengo, said: “The amount of support we’ve received really helped us develop and market the VetAfrica solution, allowing us to get the app into the hands of those who need it most very quickly.

“Working in partnership with Microsoft and the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative we feel we can make a huge impact across Africa and genuinely change lives for the better.”

Derrick McCourt, general manager for public sector at Microsoft, said: “Microsoft in Scotland is committed to fostering innovation and talent. Our Bizspark programme nurtures and accelerates over 100 start-up businesses in Scotland.

“We have been very impressed by Cojengo who built the VetAfrica solution, with our support through the global Microsoft 4Africa initiative. We are proud to help take Scottish innovation to the global stage with smart use of technology that will improve economic growth and support the livelihoods of rural African communities.”

East Africa has over 100 million farmers spread across thousands of square miles, a number Cojengo predicts will influence massive growth of mobile and cloud tech solutions in its African markets.

Cojengo has received support and advice from Business Gateway Glasgow, Scottish Enterprise, University of Strathclyde’s Entrepreneurial Network and the Gabriel Investment Syndicate.

source:humanipo

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Airtel unveils Apple’s iPhone 5s in Tanzania

AIRTEL Tanzania announced to have entered into strategic partnership with the giant mobile phone maker in the world, Apple Incorporation.

The deal has made Airtel Tanzania the first telecom firm in the country to officially seal a partnership deal with Apple on iPhone products.

Airtel Marketing Manager, Ms Prisca Tembo, said "we are happy to announce the launch of the iPhone S5 to our customers that comes with a special bundle offers of 3GB data, 1,450 minutes and 5,000 SMS per month.

"With this offer we appeal to our customers to visit all Airtel outlets and our recommended Airtel retail dealers to purchase the phone."

Airtel Communications Director, Ms Beatrice Singano, said the launch would give the firm's customers the best experience that allows them to continuously enjoy and adapt to their needs on data, voice, pictures and video.

Source:Dailynews

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WorldRemit, Tigo Tanzania in mobile wallet deal

Online money transfer service WorldRemit has partnered operator Tigo Tanzania to allow individuals sending money to friends and family living in Tanzania to have the funds delivered to a Tigo Pesa mobile wallet.

The deal is available for customers sending money from the 35 countries in which Tigo has a presence, with the companies saying the deal complements existing receive options such as bank transfer, cash pickup and mobile airtime top-up.

“I am delighted that WorldRemit is now able to offer Tigo Pesa as a way of receiving money in Tanzania. Today people use their money in lots of different ways and financial services need to respond to that,” said Ismail Ahmed, WorldRemit chief executive officer (CEO).

“At WorldRemit we aim to give people as many money transfer options as possible, from bank accounts and cash pickup to mobile wallets and airtime top-up. This is the sort of choice and flexibility that people demand in a modern, connected world.”

WorldRemit is an online service that allows people to send money around the world quickly and at low cost, using a computer, smartphone or tablet.

Migrants from Tanzania sent US$75 million home in 2013, according to the World Bank, with the same research finding remittance payments to Tanzania from overseas had more than doubled since 2008.

Source:humanipo

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Tigo introduces affordable smart phones to its customers

Tigo Tanzania announced today a partnership with a global phone manufacturing company, Huawei which enables customers of the Tanzanian mobile company to access high quality smart phones at an affordable price.

The deal gives customers an opportunity to access Huawei Y330 for entry level users at a highly discounted price of Tsh 130,000/- per handset and Huawei 530 for experienced level user wishing to upgrade at a cost of Tsh 195,000.

Launching the new offer in Dar es Salaam, Tigo Head of Data and Devices David Zacharia, said buyers of either phone will be offered 600 minutes airtime, 8,000 free SMS and 1.5GB all valued at Tsh 30,000 during the first month of purchase. In the next six months a customer buying any monthly pack worth Tsh 15,000 will get another Tsh 15,000 monthly on net pack for free, he added.

“What this package means to our customers is that after six months, a customer would have received full refund of the money spent on buying the phone through this range of free benefits,” Zacharia said

Zacharia said the move aims at enabling more Tanzanians to own smart phones and in the process, enjoy a broad range of services only accessible through the gadget including free access to Facebook that the Tigo introduced recently.

“We are also certain that this offer will lead to increased smartphone penetration in the country especially among the youth who are keen to enjoy the digital lifestyle that our company promotes, the general manager said.

The new deal comes two months since Tigo announced a ground breaking partnership with Facebook which gives customers of the mobile company free access to Facebook services.

Speaking at the event, Huawei’s South-East Africa Regional Brand Manager, Azalea Du, said Huawei Y330 and 530 are youth targeted smartphones of which his company is pleased to introduce to Tigo customers.

“We are certain, based on our experience elsewhere, that the youth of this country and other Tigo customers will find these two products quite satisfying in providing them with the digital lifestyle solutions that they want, Du said.

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Smartphones drives mobile digital revolution in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed a total revolution of data uses as phone users accessed 76,000 TB (terabyte) of data per month, double the 2013 figure of 37,500 TB, according to June 2014 Sub-Saharan Africa Ericsson Mobility Report.

The report shows in 2015 the figures are expected to double again with mobile phone users accessing 147,000 TB per month.

“We are currently around 570 million subscriptions in the region and we have seen a mobile digital revolution with consumers, networks and even media companies are wakening up the possibilities of 3G and 4G technology,” the Head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejdling said in Dar es Salaam recently.

“We have seen the trend emerging over a few years but in the past twelve months the digital traffic has increased over 100 percent forcing us to revise our existing predictions.”

He said the rise of social media, content-rich apps and video content accessed from a new range of cheaper smartphone has prompted the rise.

In referring to the report, Mr Jejdling said, the report’s findings show that the voice call traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will double with usage mobile data growing 20 times between 2013 and 2019, twice the anticipated global expansion.

By 2019 the report predicts that 75 per cent of mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive (3G or 4G).

“This growth has been predicted following the launch in 2014 of a number of smartphone for under $50 by a number of major device manufacturers allowing expansion of 3G and 4G technology.

The report predicts that in just three years’ time 3G technology will become the dominant technology across the region,” he said.

Source:Daiynews

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Earlier today, Huawei unveiled its next top of the range Smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P7

Earlier today, Huawei unveiled its next top of the range Smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P7, to the world. The Ascend P7 was one of the heavily leaked Smartphones of 2014 and we knew most of the features it has even before we saw it. This new Smartphone is supposed to take over from the successful Ascend P6 that was unveiled last year.

The Ascend P7 has a 5-inch 1080p LCD screen with a pixel density of 445ppi. The Ascend P7 is considered to be one of the thinnest Smartphones currently in the market measuring 6.5mm. The front and back parts of the Ascend P7 are covered by Gorilla Glass 3 for a more stylish look.

Inside the Ascend P7 sits a 1.8 GHz proprietary quad core CPU made by Huawei, 2GB of RAM and  16GB of internal storage. A 2500mAh battery sits at the back to provide all the juice needed to power this device.

The Ascend P7 will come in three colour options of white, pink and blue black and will have Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box. It will be available in selected markets as from June 7 for EUR 449 (approximately Kshs. 54,000)

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Airtel Tanzania offers free Facebook, WhatsApp

“Our customers can now access Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter without incurring any charge. “It gives customers more opportunity to get in touch with friends and family on social media networks for free,” said Beatrice Singano, Airtel Communications Director commenting on the services during the launch.

Singano explained how customers can access the services. “Those who subscribe to any of our Yatosha Data bundles, be it the daily, weekly or monthly package, the MB or GB received after subscription will not be used on Facebook, Whatsapp or Twitter.”

She added that the left-over data can be used for normal web browsing. “Customers will instead be able to enjoy their Data bundles on other web applications, either by downloading anything from YouTube or accessing local social networks as they wish.”

Airtel Marketing Manager, Upendo Nkini said “For those who wish to have their Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter free, just subscribe to Yatosha bundles by dialing *149*99#.”

According to Airtel, “Select a bundle that suits your needs and lifestyle then enjoy then update your family and friends via social media (whatsapp, facebook and tweeter) for free. She explained that Airtel seeks to find more innovative ways to provide value to their customers.

source:ITnews”

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Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel Tanzania join Samsung Tanzania this week to unveil its new flagship device – the Galaxy S5

The Galaxy S5 is the fifth generation of the Galaxy S series mobile devices, and features an Android operating system, increased capabilities sensory and biometrics features, and a 16 megapixel ultra-high definition camera.

                                                            SAMSUNG TANZANIA

Read more: New flagship device – the Galaxy S5

                                                              TIGO TANZANIA

VODACOM TANZANIA

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Mobile Money Africa event to focus on expanding payments industry

The 6th annual Mobile Money & Digital Payments Africa is set to bring together over 400 experts from the entire spectrum of the industry on May 21-22 in Johannesburg, with the key speakers at the conference prioritising the ability to provide financial services to the previously unbanked.

The exhibition will feature the latest technology and services on offer by leading industry providers, including global giant Ericsson, which is the gold sponsor, Telepin Software, Wirecard AG and Panamax.

“There has been a very perceptible acceptance of financial inclusion as a measurable policy objective by regulators and acceptance as a business imperative by service providers,” said Kim Dancey, regulatory head and specialist advisor: Digital and Alternative Banking at South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB).

“The challenge is to move mobile money from being a payment instrument to an offering that is used as a money management tool.”

source:humanipo

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